Personal Data
Prof. Dr. Susanne Mertens
| address | Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK) Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics Saupfercheckweg 1 69117 Heidelberg Germany |
|---|---|
| susanne.mertens@mpi-hd.mpg.de | |
| phone | + 49 (0)6221 516-805 Executive Assistant: Anja Berneiser, -801 |
| research | neutrino physics, dark matter, detector R&D, low-background studies |
Research Activities
- Member of the KATRIN, LEGEND, CONUS+ experiments
- Co-spokesperson of the KATRIN experiment
Academic History
| From 2025 | Max Planck Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik | ||
| 2022-2025 | Professor at Technical University of Munich (W3) Chair for Neutrinos & Dark Matter | ||
| 2016-2022 | Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max-Planck-Institute für Physik Tenure Track Professor for Physics at Technical University of Munich, Germany | ||
| 2012-2016 | Postdoc at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | ||
| 2008-2012 | PhD thesis at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Guido Drexlin. Title: “Background Processes in the Electrostatic Spectrometers of the KATRIN Experiment” | ||
| 2005 | Erasmus exchange at the Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. | ||
| 2002-2008 | Physics studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Masters at the Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics, Karlsruhe. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Nierste. Title: “The magnetic moment of the muon and the decay τ → eγ in the MSSM at largetan β” |
Fellowships & Awards
| 2025 | Technical University of Munich -Distinguished Affiliated Professor | ||
| 2022, 2018 & 2017 | Teaching Prize for the Faculty of Physics for best Master lecture (Goldene Kreide) & Certificate of honour for teaching from the Technical University of Munich | ||
| 2019 | ERC Starting Grant for sterile neutrino search with KATRIN | ||
| 2019 | ORIGINS Seed Funding Project for Axion Search with IAXO | ||
| 2012-2016 | Feodor-Lynen Research (Humboldt Foundation) and Helmholtz Fellowships | ||
| 2014 | Research Seed Capital (RiSC) funding of the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg | ||
| 2012 | PhD Grade: summa cum laude Karlsruhe Institute of Technology PhD Award, Springer Thesis Award and Erna Scheffler Award for outstanding PhD Theses | ||
| 2008 | Masters Grade: summa cum laude | ||
| 2002 | Ferry Porsche Award for excellent achievements in Mathematics and Physics, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium |
Academic Engagement (selection)
| 2026 | Member of the Advisory Board of the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute | ||
| 2025 | Member of the Nikhef Scientific Advisory Committee | ||
| From 2024 | Member Supervisory Board of the Max Planck Semiconductor Laboratory (HLL) | ||
| 2023-2024 | Deputy Academic Program Director at the TUM school of Natural Sciences | ||
| 2021-2024 | Coordinator of the Graduate school of the SFB1258 | ||
| 2018, 2019 | Panel member of the Town Meeting of the European Neutrino Community at CERN & Co-Author for the Briefing Book for the 2020 European Strategy Particle Physics | ||
| 2018-2024 | Member of the Program Committee for the Munich Institute for Astro and Particle Physics (MIAPP) | ||
| From 2015 | Referee for research grants (e.g. ERC) and journals (Nature, EPJ-C, PRL, PRD, JINST) |
Publications
| Selection | ||
| Sterile-neutrino search based on 259 days of KATRIN data KATRIN Collaboration Nature 648 (2025) 8092, 70-75 | ||
| Direct neutrino-mass measurement based on 259 days of KATRIN data KATRIN Collaboration Science 388 (2025) 6743, adq9592 | ||
| Search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos with the first KATRIN data KATRIN Collaboration Eur.Phys.J.C 83 (2023) 8, 763 | ||
| Direct neutrino-mass measurement with sub-electronvolt sensitivity KATRIN Collaboration Nature Phys. 18 (2022) 2, 160-166 | ||
| A novel detector system for KATRIN to search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos S. Mertens et al. Phys.G 46 (2019) 6, 065203 | ||
| Sensitivity of Next-Generation Tritium Beta-Decay Experiments for keV-Scale Sterile Neutrinos S. Mertens et al. JCAP 02 (2015), 020 | ||
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| Full list of publications in iNSPIRE & ORCiD Publications from the Astroparticle Physics Division | ||